Need help with climate control for 2001 LS

[trich]

My climate control blows cool to cold air at any setting 85 and below regardless of the outside temperature. Even when the climate control is set at 90, it only blows warm air that does a poor job of warming the interior. The defogger blows very cold air such that it can only be used for a short time.
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The dealer has had the car 4 times over the last year and half for a total of twelve working days. They have replaced the automatic controller unit, the door actuator and the dual coolant control valve. Things improved slightly for the short time after the last time they had the car two months ago, but the situation is as bad as or worse than before.

Has any one had a similar experience and if so what did they do. I am also open to any suggestions.

 

[Jim Henderson]

Don't know if this is your problem since I have very little LS experience, but when I owned a 96 Chebby and was on their website, a very common problem was heater core clogging due to the new long mileage coolants used. Maybe the Ford has the same problem?

The easy but sometimes temprorary fix was to back and forward flush the heater core. The more permanant fix was a full system chemical flush and back/forward core flush.

Your car is old enough that this might be the problem. It is easy and relatively cheap to fix, if you do it yourself. You are probably due for a flush anyway unless it was done recently. Don't believe the marketing hype of 100K or 150K mile coolant changes. Has not been my experience on any of the cars I have owned so far. At best the coolant is starting to get grungy at 50K and needs replacing in my opinion. Don't know on an LS tho.

Another possibility is that the heater air flow door is warped and not moving smoothly and fully, I assume the dealer checked this tho. Doesn't take much warpage to make the door stick.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

[2001LS8Sport]

It sure sounds like a blend door issue....stuck or not controlled. Does it ever get hot under any setting?

You might check the heater hoses in and out of the core. See if they are both hot with the engine warm. Check them from a cold engine until it's warmed up. If the inlet stays a lot warmer than the outlet, I would suspect a plugged core...but that is very rare.